Ethnography to be

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Synthia Sydnor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

In this essay, I overview Keyan Tomaselli’s contribution to the inaugural edition of The EthnographicEdge; further some of his discussion of the sacred in terms of ethics; and make a call for ethnography “to be”. Ethnography “to be” prefaces hope; calls for ongoing contemplation about ideas of universalism-universality-universal; and critiques the dominance of the triumphal and utopian, for instance surrounding initiatives in peace and development in the humanities and ethnography. My influence for the critique and call for ethnography “to be” lies in influential works like that of Prashad, but also foundational readings such as Gregory Bateson and Susan Sontag. The work Ritual and Its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity by Adam B. Seligman, Robert P. Weller, Michael J. Puett, and Bennett Simon (2008), informs my conclusion/condensing.